MORE NEWS, 3-3 (STORING WIND IN BATTERIES; SOLAR AFTER THE CRUNCH; GREEN JOBS CORPS; EU MAY TAX U.S. BIOFUELS)

STORING WIND IN BATTERIES
Wind Turbines, Batteries Included
Jeff St. John, March 2, 2009 (Greentech Media)

"…Japan Steel Works is aiming to ease [the integrating of wind into the grid]…by building wind turbines with batteries included in them…The maker of steel products including nuclear plant pressure vessels plans to start selling the turbines, built in conjunction with battery manufacturer Meidensha Corp. next year…

"Whether the added cost — as much as twice that of conventional wind turbines — will make it worthwhile remains to be seen. But the two Japanese companies are hardly alone in seeking ways to store wind power, whether to better integrate it into the grid moment-by-moment or store it for use at peak electricity demand times."

Wind-sized battery storage. (click to enlarge)

"American Superconductor Corp. (NSDQ: AMSC) makes D-VAR devices that stabilize voltages from wind turbines to better integrate their power into the grid. The company also licenses its wind turbine designs to customers that build them, many in China…

"Ultracapacitors can serve in place of batteries to smooth wind power going to the grid. Maxwell Technologies has sold ultracapacitor systems to provide backup power for wind turbine blade pitch control systems built by Germany’s LTi REEnergy.

"As for large-scale wind power storage, methods include long-term standbys like pumped hydroelectric power to capturing energy as compressed air in underground caverns, as well as batteries, flywheels and superconducting magnetic storage…The Iowa Stored Energy Park, a project created by a group of the state’s municipal utilities, is seeking to prove that compressed air can serve as a reliable backup to wind power…"

Compressed air energy storage. (click to enlarge)

"Others are using sodium-sulfur batteries for wind power storage…Minneapolis-based utility Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL) is testing a system to store power from an 11-megawatt wind farm in Luverne, Minn. using a 1-megawatt, sodium-sulfur battery capable of holding 7.2 megawatt-hours of energy from Japanese company NGK Insulators...American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) installed 6 megawatts of NGK’s batteries in 2007 to support its wind operations, at a cost of $27 million. Tokyo Electric Power Co., which partnered with NGK to develop its batteries, got the ball rolling in 2001 with two 6-megawatt storage systems in Japan.

"As for other battery technologies, Hopkinton, Mass.-based lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123 Systems said in June it would develop batteries for utilities to help stabilize the grid. "


SOLAR AFTER THE CRUNCH
Solar power seen overcoming credit crunch
Martin Roberts (w/ James Jukwey), March 2, 2009 (Reuters)

"Solar energy could power up to 100 million European homes by 2020, but only after a squeeze on bank lending is over…Spain was the world's hottest solar market last year, adding about 2,500-2,800 MW of power-producing capacity…outpacing an increase of 1,800 MW in conventional gas generators…But the sector's fortunes have reversed after Spain slashed its subsidies and a global financial crisis dried up project finance …

"Spain slashed subsidies last September and capped new PV plants entitled to receive them at just 500 MW a year, while more expensive debt had added to the slowdown…[F]inancing costs for solar had jumped to 270 basis points above Euribor from 150 a year ago."

click through to the complete Global Green 2008 Global Solar Report Card

"Spanish company Abengoa Solar (ABG.MC) is locked in financing for 180 MW out of its planned 300 MW Solucar complex last August, but is still negotiating the remainder for the mainly solar-thermal project.

"The industry is pinning hopes on guaranteed, 20 or 25-year [Feed-in tariffs] for solar power in new markets -- including Italy, Greece and France -- which confer much security for newly risk-averse investors following the financial crisis…Second-tier opportunities were available in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria…Feed-in tariffs are guaranteed prices to help solar power gradually become competitive and now stand at around 300 euros per megawatt-hour in Europe, or well above wholesale market electricity prices of about 40 euros…They are motivated by government goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dependence on imported oil and gas."

click to enlarge

"The falling costs of projects, as a result of a glut in inputs, may offset higher financing costs…[B]righter prospects longer term could see solar power rivalling fossil fuels in barely a decade… PV plants alone could generate 80,000 MW by 2020, based on conservative growth assumptions, compared to less than 5,000 MW now…[A]ll types of solar power could generate at least 100 GW in 2020…

"The EU aims to obtain 20 percent of its energy supplies from renewable sources by 2020, and within that, wants 10 percent of electricity consumption to come from solar."



GREEN JOBS CORPS
Growing excitement, expectations for green jobs corps
John D. Sutter, March 2, 2009 (CNN)

"When Rita Bryer sees 300-foot-tall wind turbines sprouting up from the prairie near her home in western Oklahoma, she can't help but wonder about the view from the top, where blades the size of semi-trucks spin [so]…She's going back to school to become a wind turbine mechanic -- one who'll have to scale the turbines to make repairs.

"Across the country, people like Bryer are looking to the renewable energy sector in hopes its "green-collar jobs" will offer them stability in this shaky economy. Some are signing up for community college or apprenticeship programs that train students to be wind turbine mechanics, solar panel installers, fuel-cell engineers or energy efficiency experts."

Commanding heights, 1 (click to enlarge)

"Government support has rallied excitement for the prospect of a green jobs corps, as President Obama's stimulus package puts about $20 billion into greening the economy…he's calling on a new class of workers to be trained in environmental fields. Green jobs training programs will get $500 million from the stimulus…Vice President Joe Biden said…the clean-energy jobs pay 10 to 20 percent more than similar work outside the field… a maker of energy-efficient windows [in Chicago] intends to gradually rehire 250 workers who were laid off when their window company closed late last year...There is a "very direct" correlation between the stimulus package and Serious Materials' ability to reopen the plant…

"…Wind and solar companies have cut staff and stalled new projects as the credit crisis has tied up money, meaning banks are less able to invest in renewable energy…In the short term, that will make things difficult for the newly trained green work force…Within a year or so… the graduates [will] be able to find plenty of green jobs…[S]ome schools that train the green-collar work force are billing their programs as near-guaranteed ways to find stable jobs."

Commanding heights, 2 (click to enlarge)

"Some green jobs are low-tech and require little or no specialized training…Some weatherization steps are as simple as shoving newspaper insulation in a home's attic, caulking windows and repairing ductwork…More than $11 billion of the economic stimulus package is intended to help people make their homes more energy efficient…

"…High Plains Technology Center in Woodward, Oklahoma…where Bryer is taking classes, is offering a wind turbine technician program for the first time this year…Bryer said she doesn't know how much money she'll make in the wind business. She doesn't much care…The woman who's always been seen as a rebel because she was the lone female working tough jobs in the oil fields now feels like she's part of a movement for change."


EU MAY TAX U.S. BIOFUELS
EU to weigh duties on US biodiesel imports: officials
March 2, 2009 (AFP)

"…A panel of EU anti-dumping experts is to indicate [on Wednesday] whether member states are in favour of going ahead with proposals from the European Commission to impose provisional [import duties on US biodiesel producers] initially for four months.

"While member states cannot prevent the commission from going ahead with provisional duties, more long-term duties would require their backing…[T]he anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties ranged from 23 euros (29 dollars) to 41 euros per 100 kilos (160 pounds)."

Splash and Dash: How foreign biofuels producers use U.S. subsidies to undercut EU producers. (click to enlarge)

"The commission launched an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into US biofuels in June 2008 after industry lobby the European Biodiesel Board complained that the EU market was being flooded with heavily subsidised US imports…[T]he board claims that US biodiesel is being sold at below US producers' costs thanks to generous US subsidies.

"…US exports of a particular biodiesel blend known as B99 had surged by [an estimated] 40 percent in 2008 compared to 2007… threatening the viability of European producers…[The EU duties are] also aimed to prevent Latin American producers in countries such as Brazil from shipping biofuel to the United States to be blended with subsidised US biofuels before being exported again to Europe.

"A decision to slap duties on US exports could come amid tense US trade relations which have been frayed in recent months…"